James Franco has been around for years, and his screen credits include a wide variety of roles, from Harry Osborn in the “Spider Man” movies to Saul Silver in “Pineapple Express” and now he is the first host of the Oscars that might be accepting an award himself for his performance as Aron Ralston in “127 Hours.”
Franco got his start on the fleeting series “Freaks and Geeks,” but made it big as the best friend to the arachnid superhero in the popular Marvel film trilogy.
Anne Hathaway’s first introduction to the big screen might have been “The Princess Diaries,” but as her career has developed her reputation has blossomed and she is the perfect co-host for James Franco.
The 28-year-old actress was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. was a trained stage actress who found herself thrown into the world of when she was cast as Jean Sabin in “The Other Side of Heaven.” She was then cast as Mia Thermopolis in “The Princess Diaries,” which had an earlier release date and this film’s popularity with tweens thrust her into national spotlight.
Although she made several attempts to break out of being the young girl’s role model, it wasn’t until her role in “Brokeback Mountain” (also with Gyllenhall) that moviegoers began to see Hathaway’s skill as a dramatic actress.
She has since gone on to star in the blockbuster “The Devil Wears Prada” with Meryl Streep, as well as having roles in “Rachel Getting Married,” Tim Burton’s “Alice and Wonderland” and most recently “Love and Other Drugs.”
She and Franco are an interesting choice for Oscars’ hosts after last year’s funny-men duo of Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin. Although Hathaway can hit a punch line with spot-on comedic timing under a good director, it seems unlikely that she can come up with her own jokes.
Stand-up comedy is not necessarily the role of Oscars hosts, but the more popular years have always had funny people making the transitions between heart-felt, tear-wrenching speeches and restoring the pleasant atmosphere of the night.
Plus, it will be interesting to see how things work out if Franco finds that he needs to accept a golden statuette of his own.
